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REPORT 



SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON REDUCTION OF STUDIES 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



FIRST SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



WILLIAM H. FLITCRAFT, Chairman. 






PHILADELPHIA: 

CRISSY & MAKKLEY, PRINTERS, GOLDSMITHS HALL, LIBRARY STREET. 
1861. 






4*r7y* * 



REPORT 



SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON REDUCTION OF STUDIES 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



f 



OF THE 

FIRST SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



WILLIAM H. FLITCRAFT, Chairman. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

CRISSY & MARKLEY, PRINTERS, GOLDSMITHS HALL, LIBRARY STREET. 
1861. 









Office of the Controllers of Public Schools, 

FIRST SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Philadelphia, January 9, 1SC1. 

At a Meeting of the Controllers of Public Schools, First 
District of Pennsylvania, held at the Controllers' Chamber, on 
Tuesday, January 8th, 1861, the following Report and Resolu- 
tions were adopted : 

ROBERT J. HEMPHILL, 

Secretary. 






EEPORT. 



To the Board of Controllers of the Public Schools 

of the First School District, Penna. 

Gentlemen : — The Special Committee appointed at the last 
meeting of the Board " to recommend what studies now pursued 
in the Grammar Schools shall be discontinued ; to determine 
what further limitations, if any, shall be made in the remaining 
branches;" and also to consider the resolution from the Board of 
Directors of the Eighth Section, recommending that " teachers 
be required to devote the whole of the afternoon session to 
explaining the studies of the following morning," respectfully 
present for your approval the following report and resolutions : 

I. LIMITATION OF STUDIES. 

Your Committee, empowered first to recommend the discon- 
tinuance and limitation of the studies of our Grammar Schools, 
ask the attention of the Board to a brief consideration of the 
facts and principles that have guided them in the discharge of 
this duty, and of the data upon which their recommendations 
have been based. 

"The two great points in intellectual culture are the discipline 
and the furniture of the mind." Both of these points are best 



secured by a scheme of study that includes few branches, but 

W bTrr "r h n matt T in each - That mind k the best *><**«* 

which habitually seeks to reach the loftiest heights and to sound 
the lowest depths of every subject demanding its attention, and 
which appropriates systematically all the incident facts, regular 
or anomalous. A mind so trained will always become welf fur- 
nished I on whatever subject it dwells: consequently, the most 
desirable of the two objects of culture is mental discipline and 
those studies which habituate a scholar to dispose of his acquire- 
ments logically and methodically, and which by their fullness 
test the sustained application of his mind, are the most essential 
to his progress and profit. 

A great variety of facts in one branch gives fullness of furniture 
with order and profundity; while, owing to the limited reach of 
the human faculties, a great number of branches pursued for a 
brief space of time gives only great variety of furniture, and, 
necessarily, shallowness and perplexity. 

No man, aware of these facts, who wisely regarded his mental 
welfare, would undertake a great diversity of studies, nor should 
he require others to do so; and yet we, to whom these facts 
are patent, who are professedly deeply interested in the well- 
being of all whom the public have entrusted to our care, require 
a tolerably advanced acquaintance with twelve or thirteen distinct 
departments from the pupils of our Grammar Schools before the 
High Schools are accessible to them ! The amount of study at 
present demanded for admission into the High Schools has no 
parallel in the annals of education, if we confine our attention to 
the requirements upon pupils of the same age and during the 
same period of attendance. The scholars of the Boston Grammar 
Schools pursue but nine studies for a similar promotion to that 
tor which our pupils are compelled to pursue thirteen. In New 
York, admission to the Free Academy is attained after passing 
a satisfactory examination upon a comparatively small number of 
studies. Owing to our better educational provision for subordi- 
nate schools, furnishing thirteen teachers for the instruction of 



each pupil who passes from the alphabetical class of the Primary 
Schools to the lowest division of the High School, we are enabled 
to inculcate thoroughly a larger number of branches in our 
Grammar Schools than can be successfully taught in the same 
grade of schools in either of the cities mentioned. But, in the 
opinion of your Committee, the number at present cultivated is 
beyond the bounds of propriety, and thoroughness in all is 
unattainable. We believe that the present state of scholastic 
oppression calls for immediate action and relief. 

Your Committee deem that the practicable means of imme- 
diately relieving the pupils of our Grammar Schools are six in 
number, namely: 

1. By transferring some branches from the Grammar Schools 
to the High Schools. 

2. By transferring one or more branches to the Secondary 
Schools. 

3. By discarding comparatively unserviceable studies or parts 
of studies. 

4. By introducing more compendious text-books upon some 
branches, or by limiting the use of the most diffuse to the High 
Schools. 

5. By discontinuing one or more studies in the lower divisions 
of the Grammar Schools. 

6. By requiring some studies, now almost exclusively learned 
at home, to be exclusively learned at school. 

In the recommendations which follow, we have availed our- 
selves, in some way, of every means here enumerated; and, as 
the heaviest complaints are urged against the prodigious weight 
of the home studies, the greatest changes are proposed to be 
made in them. 

The branches regularly pursued in our Grammar Schools, 



6 



classified as home studies, school studies, and both home and 
school studies, are as follows : 



NO. 


I. 




II. 


NO. 


III. 


HOME STUDIES. 


NO. 
1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 


HOME AND SCHOOL 
STUDIES. 


SCHOOL 
STUDIES. 


1. 

2. 



4. 
5. 
6. 

7 - 


Spelling. 

Definitions. 

Principles of Grammar. 

Geography. 

Rules of Arithmetic. 

History of U. States. 

Constitution of U. S. 


Parsing. 

Practical Arithmetic. 

Mensuration. 

Algebra. 


1. 

2. 


Reading. 
Penmanship. 



It is evident, from the spirit of the preamble and resolutions 
under which your Committee are called upon to act, that our 
business must mainly be found in reducing the number and the 
matter of studies in the first and second columns of the above 
table ; and we now proceed to the execution of our duty, by 
recommending to the Board to cause the study of 



ALGEBRA 

to be discontinued in the Grammar Schools of the District. 
This branch was among those introduced in the year 1849; 
the mere elementary parts have been taught, and, as taught, they 
give no discipline to the mind that is not fully attained by the 
cultivation of other branches which must always form part 
of the exercises of Grammar Schools. Besides, Algebra is 
pursued in the High Schools, where it may, without much 
inconvenience, be commenced as well as completed. 



GREENLEAF'S NATIONAL ARITHMETIC. 

"We recommend that Greenleaf 's National Arithmetic be limited 
in its use to the High Schools, as it evidently was prepared for 
that grade of schools, and as it is entirely too diffuse and minute 
in details to be exhausted in the ordinary arithmetical course of 
the subordinate schools. 

RULES OF ARITHMETIC. 

We -recommend that the mere rules of arithmetic shall no 
longer constitute a branch of examination for admission into the 
High Schools. To master them requires only a verbal memory, 
which is sufficiently exercised in other branches, and the neces- 
sity of knowing the mere wording of a rule ceases as soon as 
the pupil is made familiar with the practical working of the 
problems. 

The inefficacy of memorizing rules for aiding in practical 
arithmetical work is demonstrated by the facts, that many 
scholars who obtain exceedingly high averages when tested upon 
the rules are not able to take a respectable mark when exam- 
ined upon practical examples, and that expert calculators are 
often found deficient in the mere verbiage of the rules. 

Your Committee, however, aware of the excellent mental dis- 
cipline imparted by arithmetical explanations, and of the useful 
information contained in mathematical definitions, request that 
they together may be made to constitute a subject for the exami- 
nation of candidates for admission into the High Schools, to be 
known by the name of Principles of Arithmetic, and that its 
explanations be mostly taught in the first and second divisions. 



GEOGRAPHY, GRAMMAR, HISTORY, AND CONSTI- 
TUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The study of Geography is commenced in the first or second 
divisions of our Primary Schools. It is taught in every division 
of our Secondary and Grammar Schools, thus claiming attention 
from at least ten teachers, and occupying the minds of our 
scholars for a period of five years and upwards ; whereas the 
study of Grammar usually commences in the lowest division of 
our Grammar Schools, and is discarded after sharing the atten- 
tion of only five teachers, and occupying the minds of our scholars 
two and a half years and upwards. There is no good reason for 
this marked difference. True, the study of Geography can be 
successfully taught much earlier in life than Grammar can, but 
that is also a very good reason why it should sooner be com- 
passed and discarded. 

The facts of Geography, as given in our text-books, call into 
exercise very inferior faculties, compared to those which are 
tasked in the study of Grammar. Geography, as taught, deals 
mostly in mere local relations, developing almost exclusively the 
visual perceptions, whereas Grammar unfolds all the varied 
relations of words, and penetrates the mind through every ave- 
nue of thought. 

The importance of Grammar demands that the period of time 
allotted to it should be extended, or that the time spent upon 
grammatical recitations should be prolonged. The period of its 
study might be extended by introducing its rudiments into the 
first divisions of Secondary Schools ; but this is a step which 
your Committee cannot take upon themselves the responsibility of 
recommending, as they have not been appointed to introduce 
studies, but to discard, compress, and regulate. 

The time spent upon grammatical recitations, however, can be 
prolonged by appropriating part of the time of eight teachers 
instead of ten to the study of Geography, which can be done by 



determining that Geography shall be commenced as a study in 
the first divisions of the Primary Schools and completed in the 
third divisions of the Grammar Schools. By the arrangement 
indicated, more time can be bestowed upon grammatical studies 
in the highest divisions at an age when some degree of mental 
maturity will favor the inception and comprehension of their 
principles. 

It is, therefore, recommended that the study of Geography 
be completed in the third divisions of Grammar Schools, and 
that the study of Grammar be more extensively pursued in the 
first and second divisions of the same ; and, in order more cer- 
tainly and effectually to secure a large share of the time of the 
first and second divisions for the study of Grammar, your Com- 
mittee propose that candidates for admission into the High 
Schools shall not be questioned upon Geography. 

We also recommend that the memorizing of History at home 
be discontinued, but that teachers continue to dwell upon it in 
reading lessons, to the extent of three lessons weekly. 



CONCLUSIONS. 

We will here conclude all recommendations to limit, both 
in the number and amount of studies. The amount of daily 
school work for teachers will not in any respect be lessened 
by the proposed changes. There is still, perhaps, more to be 
taught and explained than can very well be acquired in the time 
to be appropriated to it; but the amount of labor for the 
scholars will be reduced at least one-third. The amount of 
reduction can only partly be observed, by comparing a list of 
the studies now pursued and a list of those recommended, as 
below presented. The studies marked by an asterisk are recom- 
mended to be very materially diminished in extent. 



10 





I. 


! 


II. 


NO. 
1. 


STUDIES NOW TUESUED. 


J NO. 

t 

! i- 


STUDIES RECOMMENDED. 


Reading. 


Reading. 


2. 


Orthography. 


2. 


Orthography. 


3. 


Penmanship. 


3. 


Penmanship. 


4. 


Definitions. 


! 4. 


*Definitions. 


5. 


Grammar, (Principles.) 


5. 


Grammar. 


6. 


Parsing. 


6. 


Parsing. 


7. 


Geography. 


7. 


^Geography. 


8. 


Rules and Principles of Arithmetic 


1 8. 


*Principles of Arithmetic. 


9. 


Practical Arithmetic. 


9. 


Practical Arithmetic. 


10. 


History of the United States. 


10. 


*History of the United States. 


11. 


Constitution of the U. States. 


11. 


Constitution of the U. States. 


12. 


Mensuration. 


12. 


Mensuration. 


13. 


Algebra. 







It must also be remembered in favor of the list recommended, 
that owing to the arrangement in regard to Geography and 
the principles of Arithmetic, no more than eleven studies can 
be pursued together even in the highest divisions; whereas, at 
present, twelve or thirteen are pursued in them, and ten in 
the lowest divisions.. It is also worthy of remark, that the 
Principles of Arithmetic, which now engage the attention of five 
divisions, if taught as recommended, may be exhausted in the 
first and second divisions, thus enabling Principals of Grammar 
Schools to make still further reductions in the lowest divisions, 
where scholars are youngest and least inured to habits of thought 
and study. 



11 



II. HOME STUDIES. 

Your Committee were secondly authorized to Consider the 
propriety of requiring the teachers of Grammar, Secondary, and 
Primary Schools to devote the whole of the afternoon session 
to explaining the studies of the following morning. 

As it might be inferred from the language of the resolution of 
the Board of Directors of the Eighth Section, containing the 
suggestion on the expediency of which we are now about to re- 
port, that one of the duties of your Committee is either to de- 
fend or discountenance the prevalent practice of scholars com- 
mitting and performing tasks at home, we deem it well to 
state that, after mature deliberation, we are not willing to 
recommend the entire abandonment of it. Our convictions 
are, that some home application is absolutely necessary 
to habituate pupils to depend upon their own resources ; 
that, during school hours, many, by the mere presence 
of others, have their attention so distracted that profound 
study becomes impossible; that study at home is usually 
more pleasant and profitable than study in school, on account of 
pupils not being constrained to occupy a fixed position, and from 
their not being compelled to attend unremittingly to the pre- 
scribed tasks. 

The remarks upon this subject made by the Prussian Ministry of 
Public Instruction, in 1837, appear to us to be so apt and prudent, 
that we extract the following: — "While it is highly important 
that the pupil should have preparation to make at home, re- 
quiring the exercise of his own resources, it is not less so that 
the amount of private study should not be carried to an injurious 
extent. The regulations, therefore, provide that, at the begin- 
ning of each term, there should be a conference of the teachers 
to determine the due amount of such work in the different classes 
in detail. Every teacher should keep a book in which the exercises 
actually given are accurately noted, so that the directors may 
see, at any time, hoiu far the decisions of the conference have 
been conformed to.'' 



12 

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 

For pupils of Grammar Schools, occupied as they are almost 
incessantly during five hours and a half in mental exertions, your 
Committee deem that an hour and a half is the maximum time 
that should be required for study at home; and the more forcibly 
are we convinced of this, when we reflect that the time usually 
and most conveniently employed upon home lessons is that 
which immediately precedes retiring, when both mind and body 
are likely to be wearied with the exercises of the day. One 
hour and a half being the maximum allowance of time, the maxi- 
mum number of lessons should not be more than two, varying in 
length according to the character of the study, and the age and 
grade of pupils. 

SECONDARY AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

The maximum demand of time for home study made upon the 
pupils of Secondary Schools, and upon those of the Primaries 
who are sufficiently advanced to study, should be one hour ; and 
the number of lessons should never exceed two. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

We feel it to be incumbent upon us to recommend to the 
Board immediate action on the points under consideration, and 
also to direct the attention of teachers to the propriety of giving all 
necessary explanations of tasks, before pupils are required to re- 
cite them. Yet we are by no means prepared to favor the appro- 
priation of the whole afternoon session to that purpose ; as those 
studies which must always be almost exclusively taught in school 
will require much more time than could be obtained in the morning, 
after the recitation of two lessons had been finished. Besides, 
it will not always be necessary to elucidate the lessons for the 
following day during a period of two hours and a half, in order 
to have scholars understand perfectly all that will be required of 
them. 



It appears to us that resolutions embodying the various sug- 
gestions given above upon these subjects, and requiring that 
Spelling, Punctuation, Parsing, Mensuration, History, Principles 
of Arithmetic, and Practical Arithmetic, be taught exclusively in 
school hours, would satisfy all reasonable demands for retrench- 
ment of home study, and for extension of school illustrations and 
explanations. 

The effect of such resolutions will be made evident by a com- 
parison of the table of home and school studies, as now pursued 
in Grammar Schools, with the list of home and school studies, 
as we recommend to be pursued. 

The table of home and school studies, as now pursued, which 
is the same as that before presented, is, as follows : 





I. 




II. 




III. 


NO. 


HOME STUDIES. 


NO. 


HOME AND SCHOOL 
STUDIES. 


NO. 


SCHOOL 
STUDIES. 


1. 


Spelling. 


1. 


Parsing. 


1. 


Reading. 


2. 


Definitions. 


o. 


Practical Arithmetic. 


2. 


Penmanship. 


3. 


Principles of Grammar. 


3. 


Mensuration. 






4. 


Geography. 


4. 


Algebra. 






5. 


Rules of Arithmetic. 










6. 


History of U. S. 










7. 


Constitution of U. S. 











14 

The table of -home and school studies, as recommended to be 
pursued, is, as follows: 





I. 




II. 


NO. 


HOME STUDIES. 


NO. 


SCHOOL STUDIES. 


1. 


Definitions. 


1. 


Reading and History. 


2. 


Principles of Grammar. 


o. 


Penmanship. 


3. 


Geography. 


3. 


Orthography. 


4. 


Constitution of the United States. 


4. 


Parsing. 






5. 


Practical Arithmetic. 






6. 


Principles of Arithmetic. 






7. 


Mensuration. 



It will be observed that only three home studies can be pursued 
together in any division. Lessons could be given, two at a time, 
on alternate nights; and the amount of home study required 
may thus be cut down one-half. 

Such a distribution of home and school studies would give 
three home studies to the pupils of Secondary Schools, and to the 
most advanced Primary pupils ; namely, Spelling, Geography, 
and Tables. 

Before dismissing this subject, your Committee desire to ex- 
press the opinion, that though the proposed changes will not 
lessen the labors of teachers, yet they would add much to the 
pleasure of the teaching, by aifording more time for explanation 
than the present methods, by obviating the necessity of cram- 
ming, by allowing more time for the instruction of individual 
scholars, as well as of masses, and by providing a more liberal 
allowance of time for Reading, Penmanship, and Orthography, 
thus enabling teachers to instruct in them more satisfactorily 
and thoroughly than at present it is possible to do. 

After thus fully considering the subjects committed to us, we 
beg leave to recommend, for the adoption of this Board, a series 
of resolutions, embodying nearly all of the pertinent and prac- 
tical suggestions of this report. If adopted, we are convinced 



15 



that in the Public Schools of our city, the health of the most 
studious and sickly scholars will improve, the pleasures of teach- 
ing and learning "will be enhanced, thoroughness will, in a great 
measure, supersede superficiality, better thinkers will be deve- 
loped, our homes will- be free from the constant and annoying 
oppression of great and difBcult tasks, and the people will be 
gratified at possessing a system of education in which all lessons 
will be taught, instead of one in which the greatest number of 
lessons is only recited. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved, That the study of Algebra shall be discontinued in 
the Grammar Schools of this District. 

Resolved, That the use of Greenleaf's National Arithmetic 
shall be limited to the High Schools. 

Resolved, That the mere rules of Arithmetic shall no longer 
constitute a branch of examination for admission into the High 
Schools ; but that definitions of arithmetical terms and reasons 
of arithmetical operations shall still be examined upon, under 
the name of Principles of Arithmetic. 

Resolved, That the History of the United States shall not be 
memorized, and that three reading lessons weekly, of one-half 
hour each, be given by teachers using the book. 

Resolved, That no lesson in Geography shall be given to pu- 
pils of the first and second divisions of Grammar Schools to be 
prepared at home ; and that candidates for admission into the 
High Schools shall not be questioned upon that subject ; but 
that geographical lessons shall be given at least three times 
weekly, in the third, fourth, and fifth divisions. 

Resolved, That no more than two lessons, at any time, shall 
be given to pupils of Grammar, Secondary, or Primary Schools, 
to be studied at home, and that no greater amount of matter 
shall be daily assigned to pupils of Grammar Schools than can 
be committed to memory or performed, by scholars of average 
ability, in an hour and a half; and that, from Secondary and 
Primary pupils, no more than one hour of home study shall ever 
be required. 



1G 

Resolved, That the Board require the teachers of every 
grade of school which has two daily sessions to employ the hours 
of the afternoon, as far as is practicable, in explaining the les- 
sons to be recited on the following day. 

Resolved, That the regulations of this Board, relating to the 
extent and limitations of home and school studies, shall be kept 
prominently posted in all the Public Schools of this District. 

Resolved, That the Teachers of Grammar, Secondary, and 
Primary Schools be furnished with a blank book, in which they 
will be required to keep, for the inspection of Controllers and 
Directors, a correct record of the daily tasks they assign to be 
studied at home. 

Resolved, That all limitations or agreements authorized by 
this Board, which conflict with the above resolutions, are hereby 
declared null and void ; and all limitations or agreements in re- 
gard to school studies, which have been authorized by this Board, 
and which do not conflict with the above resolutions, are hereby 
re-established and re-affirmed. 

Resolved, That the limitations of studies shall not take effect 
until after the next semi-annual examination of candidates for 
admission into the High School. 

Resolved, That the home studies be confined to Definitions, 
Principles of Grammar, Geography, and the Constitution of the 
United States. 

Resolved, That the school studies be as follows : — Reading, 
Penmanship, Orthography, Parsing, Practical Arithmetic, Prin- 
ciples of Arithmetic, and Mensuration. 

Resolved, That the study of the Constitution of the United 
States shall be commenced only after that of Geography shall 

have been discontinued. 

W. H. FLITCRAFT, 
LEWIS BITTING, 
CHARLES WELSH, 
THOMAS FITZGERALD, 
GEO. INMAN R1CHE, 
T. G. HOLLINGSWORTH, 
R. Q. SHELMERDINE, 

Committee. 



021 520 576 9 





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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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021 520 576 9 



